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Welcome to Unpacked Podcasts

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with your host leadership consultant

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, ron Harvey of Global Core Strategies

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and Consulting . Ron's delighted to

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have you join us as he unpacks and

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shares his leadership experience , designed

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to help you in your leadership

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journey . Ron believes that leadership

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is the fundamental driver towards making

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a difference . So now to find

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out more of what it means to unpack

0:25

leadership , here's your host , ron

0:27

Harvey .

0:27

Good afternoon . I'm Ron Harvey , the Vice

0:29

President and Chief Operating Officer for Global

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Core Strategies and Consulting . We're a

0:34

leadership development firm based out of Columbia , south

0:36

Carolina , and all the work that we do is

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about adding value and creating a winning

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culture in organizations . We love what we do . We

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love helping leaders grow so they can just

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get better at taking care of the people that they're responsible

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for and responsible to , while at the same

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time enjoying their job . And sometimes

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, when you get into these roles , you do it but you're

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not loving it , and we want you to love it and be

0:56

good at it . So we spend a lot of time in that

0:58

space for all the leaders in every industry

1:00

. But today we really pause in our

1:02

company and what we get the opportunity to do and I

1:04

say get the opportunity because it doesn't feel like work

1:06

we really get an opportunity to talk

1:08

with leaders from across the globe in

1:10

all industries that really come onto

1:12

this podcast and share without

1:15

any questions in advance . They take this risk

1:17

with me because I don't know what I'm going to ask . They don't know

1:19

what I'm going to ask and I don't know what they're going to respond

1:21

with , but we do promise you that we're going to unpack

1:23

, we're going to keep it real , we're going to have a good

1:26

time and hopefully we share something with

1:28

you that makes you more effective at

1:30

what it is you're trying to get accomplished . Our job is

1:32

to add value to you and your journey on leadership . So

1:34

I'm super excited to have a really good friend of mine , nikki

1:37

Pounds . You know I call it Nikki Pounds hashtag

1:39

. That's like a sound , that's just like a radio broadcast

1:41

name , but I'm happy that she said yes

1:43

and that we get to spend time with her HR

1:46

. Unequivocal does a phenomenal

1:48

job . So thank you , nikki , for saying yes

1:50

and welcome to the show .

1:52

Thank you for having me , ron , and yes , if

1:54

you did not hear that , I do not have

1:56

the questions in advance , so let's

1:59

get comfortable with a pause .

2:06

So , nikki , people come on like man , I don't have the questions

2:08

in there , like okay , what is it going to say ? And you're quite a

2:10

bear . And some people like let's just do

2:12

it . Whatever you , I'll just keep it real , ron . So

2:15

it just depends on who's on the show , how

2:17

they're building and she's smiling , but no , most of the times

2:19

when you get it , you kind of want to know what's going to happen . This

2:22

show is really unpack . I really don't know what

2:24

I'm going to ask her . To be honest , there are no questions in front of

2:26

me as far as prescripted . Our entire

2:28

conversation is real time , what's happened with her

2:30

and what's happening , based on what's happening

2:32

in the world , and it changes so fast , and

2:35

so I'm excited about doing this particular

2:37

podcast with you , a good friend . You support

2:39

several things that I do . I support what you do

2:41

. You're doing a phenomenal job . I

2:43

remember years when we first met about

2:46

all of us both of us trying to figure it out together

2:48

. We both put these airplanes in the air . Don't crash

2:50

it , you know yes . Nikki is

2:52

a guru in HR and I knew how to do business development

2:54

and leadership and how to work rooms and we just

2:56

connected and became friends and support each other

2:59

. You know she has a project , She'll call . If I have

3:01

something , I call her . So we work

3:03

well together and collaborate . So thank you for saying

3:05

yes and being willing to share with our both

3:07

of our communities . So , Nikki , when

3:09

you think about being a business leader , an

3:11

entrepreneur , you're in Charlotte . You're doing some phenomenal

3:14

things . What's going well ? Tell

3:16

me about some things that you're doing that you're really excited about

3:18

.

3:19

So a lot of things are going well and

3:22

, yes , we have developed this working relationship

3:24

and a friendship that has helped me

3:26

in my business . So some things

3:29

that are going well are just

3:31

customer engagement , client engagement

3:34

. We're growing and

3:36

tapping into some new markets

3:38

, so we now offer fractional HR

3:40

managers for companies

3:43

who are in that space

3:45

where they could use some HR

3:47

consulting but don't have

3:50

the funds or don't need to have someone full time

3:52

on their staff . So we offer a fractional

3:54

HR management services to small

3:56

and mid-sized companies . We're doing

3:59

a lot around a lot

4:01

of what you do as well leadership development

4:03

, because we know that engaged and

4:05

well-equipped managers in our

4:07

organizations become the leaders , and

4:10

so that's what's going well A lot of business

4:12

development , a lot of great things going on in the

4:14

business to help with sustainability

4:16

and growth .

4:18

Yes , yes , awesome . So that's the business

4:20

side of it . Now you're your mother and your wife and you

4:22

got a driver , soon to be a driver , or at

4:24

least probably behind the wheel of the car . All

4:26

of that stuff going on . How do you manage

4:28

that ?

4:30

Ron ? Why should you want to grow up so fast ? So

4:33

what's great about being a business

4:35

owner is that you can balance some

4:37

of those things . It doesn't mean that you work less

4:39

when you're a business owner . I work more

4:41

now than I did when

4:44

I was in corporate , but what I am

4:46

able to do is take the time

4:48

to pick her up from school . Now

4:50

she's ready to drive . She just got her driver's license

4:53

last Friday and so

4:55

she's like am I driving to school this week already

4:57

? Okay , just calm down , this

4:59

is going to happen . So I'm still at

5:01

the point where I can take that

5:04

time from 3 to 4 pm to

5:06

most days , pick her up from school and

5:09

drop her off in the mornings and still

5:11

be available for dinners and

5:13

things like that . So I just work

5:15

differently . I work more flexibly

5:17

now as a business owner

5:20

. But that didn't come immediately

5:22

. It came over time , with

5:24

me changing my schedule bit

5:26

by bit over the last six years

5:29

of being a business owner and realizing

5:31

why I started the business . I started

5:33

the business , for sure , for business reasons

5:36

. I wanted to help multiple organizations and

5:38

I also knew that I wanted to be

5:40

here for my family as well . So , but

5:42

it's taken time . It didn't happen overnight .

5:45

Yeah , which I think is important for people that are listening and

5:47

watching us , to know that it's not overnight

5:49

and that there are some challenges and things you got

5:51

to figure and you have to reallocate time or readjust

5:53

time , you know , because the world is faced with that

5:55

right now . Covid changed us completely

5:58

. It flipped us upside down . What

6:00

are some of the things that not only you notice

6:02

, but you also had to understand to be

6:04

successful ? You know , as a leader of your organization

6:07

, how did you learn to to

6:09

the work people was out as soon as COVID ? Pivot , pivot

6:11

, pivot . Every day I heard the word pivot , but

6:13

I call it constant change . It's

6:15

constantly changing . How did

6:18

you manage to constantly change based on

6:20

the demands that were happening and

6:22

still happen for you ? How did you constantly change and how

6:24

do you embrace that ?

6:26

That also wasn't easy , figuring

6:28

it out as I would go . So I

6:30

started the business in 2018

6:32

, but didn't go into it full-time until 2019

6:35

, and which was about nine

6:37

months before COVID . And

6:39

I sat here and

6:41

when COVID hit , I lost every

6:44

single client that I had developed

6:46

in that previous nine months . Wasn't

6:48

a lot , but it was enough to

6:50

start getting some traction . So being

6:53

able to sustain through COVID . So

6:55

sitting here figuring out how I was going to

6:57

reinvent the business , so

6:59

you talk about pivoting . it

7:01

was more about reinventing

7:04

. Nikki , what other skills do you have ? Because

7:06

at that time I didn't have a team , it was just me . And

7:09

what are you going to do now ? And so what

7:11

I learned from that is that I had to reinvent

7:13

myself , tap into some other markers

7:16

that I hadn't tapped into . So I tapped into more

7:18

of the individual . I was marketing

7:20

my services to individuals . I've

7:23

been able to constantly reinvent

7:25

what I do and how I do it

7:27

and tap into different markets . Because

7:30

of that experience through COVID , I realized

7:32

that it's a really fragile

7:35

place to be in as a business owner

7:37

a very fragile place to be in , and

7:40

you don't want to put all of your eggs in one basket

7:42

, so constantly reinventing and tapping

7:44

into markers that you haven't tapped into before .

7:47

Yeah , so at a catastrophic event , what

7:50

did you learn about you ? Because

7:52

you had to reinvent yourself , and sometimes

7:54

, as entrepreneurs , we often

7:57

have self-limiting beliefs we don't

7:59

think that it's possible , that it can be done

8:01

or it's too difficult . What did you learn about your

8:03

ability to be resilient ?

8:05

That I was resilient . And it is difficult

8:07

. I don't ever want people to think

8:10

, because you open your doors and Ron

8:12

, you know this too Just because you open your doors

8:14

, you're like I

8:16

created an LLC or I'm an individual , you know I'm

8:18

a contractor now that people are just going

8:21

to come and buy your services , for your products

8:23

, because they don't , and so it's not

8:25

easy . But what I learned is that I am more

8:27

resilient than I thought I

8:29

was . The imposter syndrome still

8:31

kicks in from time to time when

8:34

I feel like I'm not equipped to do something

8:36

, or not equipped right now to do

8:38

it . I can do it later . But what I

8:40

learned is done is better than perfect , and

8:44

I approach projects .

8:45

Wait a time , I'll say that again . You gotta drop that note again

8:47

. Say that again for people that's listening . Yeah , you didn't

8:49

drove by that like a drive by . Yeah , go ahead

8:51

. That was like hey , nicky , that was Chick-fil-A-Pass

8:54

.

8:57

That was done is better than perfect

8:59

. There's never going to be a perfect time

9:02

to do something . If we continue to wait

9:04

and wait , we'll be waiting forever , and these

9:06

things that we had planned

9:08

to do are going to be in the background always

9:10

, and so we want to just make sure that we're

9:13

putting the things out there and we're iterating

9:15

at all times . There's no . Just

9:17

because it's there doesn't mean you can't change it . You can

9:19

change it later . Just put it out there and

9:22

keep moving .

9:23

Yeah , I mean . And what does it do for individuals

9:25

? I heard what you say do . But what does

9:27

it do for someone's confidence to say they got

9:29

something done ? Not necessarily gotta

9:32

be perfection . What does it do for you as entrepreneur

9:34

, as a leader , you know , as a human

9:36

being , getting things done ? How does it help

9:38

you ?

9:39

It definitely boosts your confidence for you

9:41

to not just check it off the list

9:43

. You know we have a lots of list of things that we

9:45

have to do , but it's something , a project

9:48

, that you have actually accomplished

9:50

. It might not be in the state

9:52

of it being perfect as

9:54

you would see it as perfect , but

9:57

it's definitely a confidence booster . And

9:59

then , as you begin to get feedback about it

10:01

, you understand where all the flaws

10:03

are . But everybody else does . You understand

10:05

that too , that other people don't . Even they don't know

10:07

what you know or know what you don't know , and

10:10

so it's definitely a confidence

10:12

booster when you get a project done

10:14

that you've been sitting on for a while .

10:17

Yeah . So if you're listening , get some things done . You'll

10:19

be amazed at how it may . It gives you momentum

10:22

. I mean , it gives you an opportunity to

10:24

feel like you're getting things accomplished , and if

10:26

you wait for it to be perfect , you probably never

10:28

get started . You don't feel as good . So get

10:30

some things done , no matter how small they are

10:32

. Give yourself credit for having those little things done

10:34

. So when you think about your team and it's

10:36

growing and you're doing a phenomenal job , how

10:39

important is it for you to bring somebody on

10:41

sooner rather than later ?

10:43

You know that's a great question how

10:45

do you determine

10:48

when to bring a person

10:50

on ? Yes , and you and I have had

10:52

that conversation , and I've toyed

10:54

with this for years , because

10:56

you wanna make sure that you are bringing

10:58

someone into a place of stability and

11:01

that you're able to sustain that person in the business

11:03

, and so Evaluating

11:06

when to bring them on is a difficult

11:08

process . I don't say that you should

11:10

do that in a bubble . Ensure that you have

11:12

people around you . So you have

11:15

either a coach or you have

11:17

a CPA or financial

11:19

advisor , someone who is looking at

11:21

the business numbers with you and

11:23

determining what you can afford , how

11:25

much you can afford , and understanding

11:28

where you are in the business

11:30

as well in terms of capacity . If

11:32

you've gotten to the point where you're working 20 hours

11:34

a day delivering services and

11:37

selling services , you might want to start looking

11:39

for some help . You

11:41

know you want to balance that because you're just like , oh well , I want

11:43

all the money , but yeah , you're gonna be able to

11:45

so because you can spend the money , because you are

11:47

working yourself to death . So

11:51

being able to balance your capacity

11:54

and your time and finances and

11:57

you know it's all sexy to say , oh I have employees

11:59

, I have employees Think about bringing

12:01

contractors on first and paying , you know

12:04

, four or five hours a week If that's what you can afford

12:06

, as opposed to just hiring a whole

12:08

bunch of people that you can't sustain for the longterm

12:10

.

12:11

Oh , yes , yes . And you said , and often

12:13

when you first start you do want all the money . You're like

12:15

, oh , I made it , if you're looking at that , and then you realize

12:18

that you're gonna start paying it out . And that can

12:20

be a hard thing if you haven't been mentored

12:22

and groomed . And Nikki says , you know , get you

12:24

know CPA or get a culture , I will say , get

12:26

all of those and at some point have

12:28

someone in your corner with that skill set to

12:31

help you really understand all the nuances

12:33

of running a business and have those people

12:35

that you can pick up , you know , and you don't have to have a full-time

12:37

employee . But I got a CPA that I can dial

12:39

quickly HR person I can dial quickly A

12:42

bookkeeper I can dial quickly A marketing expert that

12:44

I have access to and I compensate them for

12:46

the time that they give us to answer

12:48

the questions that they professionally do . So if you're

12:50

in business , don't expect everybody to give you everything free

12:53

, compensating for that hour , that two

12:55

hours or whatever that is . You'd be amazed how

12:57

quick they answer your phone call , long as

12:59

you don't expect free services . So

13:01

please invest into the people that you need to make

13:03

your company successful . So , nikki , when

13:05

you started thinking about your role and your goal

13:08

. You worked in corporate America and you transitioned

13:10

into , you know , being an entrepreneur . What

13:12

are some of the challenges initially that you faced

13:15

coming out of corporate and going into being

13:17

an entrepreneur ? Cause it can be scary .

13:20

Oh , it is scary , it absolutely is scary

13:22

. So some of the challenges are

13:24

prioritizing . So if everything

13:26

is a priority , nothing is so

13:29

prioritizing what needs to be done right

13:31

now and actually doing

13:33

it . Because you prioritize things

13:35

but , as a business owner , nobody's telling you you have

13:37

to do anything , so we can always wait until tomorrow

13:39

. So that was one of the things that I actually

13:42

learned that from another mentor that I

13:44

have . His name is John and

13:47

he actually contributed to the book that I wrote

13:49

and that was one of the very

13:51

first things that he told me . He said Nikki

13:53

, everything can wait until tomorrow , so

13:56

ensure that you are working and getting

13:58

things done that need to get done . That was a challenge

14:00

. And then working in this flexible schedule

14:03

because of all the prior

14:05

things that I just said , a lot of times

14:07

we'll work Monday through Friday

14:09

, nine to five , just like we've done in corporate

14:11

, and that doesn't necessarily work in a business

14:14

. You are going to put in more hours

14:16

some days , you're going to work weekends

14:18

sometimes and just being

14:20

giving yourself grace to

14:23

know when you need to work and when you need to slow

14:25

down . I was getting sick a lot

14:27

, like every three to four months , like in the bed

14:29

. I was out for two or three days

14:32

because I worked myself too much , and

14:34

so balancing the priorities in

14:36

your life and work as an entrepreneur is

14:39

a lot and it is scary and

14:41

it takes practice . We have to practice

14:43

it .

14:44

Yes , yes , Thank you for talking about self-care

14:46

, because oftentimes we do take it for

14:48

granted and you'll work yourself until you're sick . You

14:51

know where you , literally in the bed , can't get out because

14:53

you just haven't taken care of yourself , which

14:55

means you can't help the people that you want to help . You can't make

14:57

the difference you want to make . So please know

14:59

, as Nikki said , please take care of yourself

15:02

. You know , because that's where it all starts at . You

15:04

know people are watching that , taking care of yourself . So

15:07

, Nikki , this is your baby and you're

15:09

bringing people on . It's hard

15:11

to let go of some things . It's

15:13

hard to trust people with

15:15

your brand and your identity and everything

15:18

you work hard for . How do you begin

15:20

to ? I don't think you ever get over it , but how do you get

15:22

better at it ?

15:23

I say well , you know , my background is in human

15:25

resources . You are right , I

15:28

think I know people . But

15:31

higher slow and fire fast

15:33

, especially if you have contractors . If you

15:36

feel like , if you see immediately it's not

15:38

working out , then you

15:40

know for sure . Give people grace and

15:42

time , but be

15:45

clear about what your expectations are . And in

15:47

order for you to be clear about your expectations , or you

15:49

do have to have those people that we talked about

15:52

, those mentors , coaches

15:54

that can help you to evaluate

15:56

what your needs are . So be clear about what your needs

15:58

are and do it slowly . Give

16:01

people a little bit at a time to see how they work

16:03

, but do go through that vetting process

16:06

early on to

16:08

ensure that the person that you brought

16:11

on and you give them the best chance of the person

16:13

that you brought on , you've given them the best chances

16:15

to succeed . You've given yourself

16:17

and your business the best chances to succeed

16:19

when you do that slowly instead of just

16:21

jumping in . Just because

16:23

someone is available doesn't mean that they're the right

16:25

person for the business .

16:27

So yes

16:29

, yes , yeah , I learned that lesson . Like

16:31

well , they need a job , okay , well , and I need

16:34

a person . We're right , we're in a perfect match

16:36

. Like no , no no , no

16:38

no Vet

16:40

, your people have a job description . Call

16:43

Nicky ever let her look at that stuff . Because , yes

16:45

, you need somebody and you got people waiting at the door

16:47

and you just hire the first person that can breathe

16:49

and walk . Yeah , yeah , you're

16:51

probably gonna get a job . You know what is the best choice .

16:53

It can be painful . I've had some painful

16:56

relationships that I've been able to work through , and

16:58

then I've had some painful relationships that I've not

17:01

been able to work through . Yeah , and

17:03

it's a lesson from all of them .

17:05

Yeah , and that does happen . So it's never gonna be a

17:07

perfect day because there's so many different

17:09

personalities and it's a different human being . So

17:12

I think it's super important that the ones you can work

17:14

through work through them and make sure that you're being

17:16

fair in all of that you do . Let's tap

17:18

into your HR a little bit here for the

17:20

people that are listening how important

17:22

is it for people that are running businesses

17:24

or organizations or they're already in an organization that's

17:26

in corporate America ? What's so much

17:28

happening in the world is like everything

17:31

now is being challenged for leaders . It's

17:33

hard to be in a leadership role . What

17:35

are some things that you're seeing show

17:37

up more than it probably should and complaints are

17:39

happening around HR . So , when you're

17:41

looking at equality in the workplace

17:44

, women's rights movement , working

17:46

from home or working remote , what time you

17:48

tell me to be in the office and does everybody need to be in the

17:50

office ? What are the things that are pretty common that you're hearing about

17:52

as an HR professional ?

17:54

It's funny that you asked that . I actually just posted

17:56

that today . Today is

17:58

World Mental Health Day and

18:01

we posted on LinkedIn some of the

18:03

trends that we're seeing in terms

18:05

of benefits for

18:07

employees , and I would consider some

18:10

of the things that you just mentioned as

18:12

benefits . Definitely , remote

18:14

work has changed the face of how we

18:16

do business , and so I have

18:19

clients who are struggling with how

18:21

to engage their remote employees

18:23

, and then we have this hybrid

18:26

environment where you have some people who are in the office

18:28

, some people who are completely remote , and

18:30

so bringing those two cultures together

18:32

that remote work , person

18:34

and culture and then the imperses

18:37

work to form this one culture in your

18:39

organization . So I'm seeing a

18:41

lot of challenges in even small

18:43

businesses . Small and medium-sized

18:45

businesses are having that challenge of

18:47

engaging all of the employees in

18:49

this hybrid environment . Some other

18:51

things that we're seeing I'm actually gonna actually look

18:54

at my post . It's World

18:56

Mental Health Day , and so wellness

18:58

benefits are really important . So I talked

19:00

a little bit about self-care . That is

19:02

number one on my list , because

19:05

it's so important to be able to balance your work

19:07

and life and not overwork yourself . Work

19:10

yourself enough that you're getting the results

19:12

, but not overdo it to where you're ending

19:14

up sick in the bed or in the hospital . And

19:17

, of course , diversity , equity and inclusion

19:19

has not gone away and it is not going to go

19:22

away . So understanding , not

19:24

just because you have a diverse workforce that

19:26

you've , you know you've hit the goal

19:28

line , but understanding that equity

19:30

and inclusion are very important when you're

19:32

engaging your employees . Everybody doesn't need

19:34

or want the same things . So , as leaders

19:37

, how do we ask meaningful

19:39

questions to our employees so

19:42

that we know what they need and want and

19:44

can provide support in the areas that can help

19:46

them show up and be the

19:49

best self in our business ? And

19:51

so , whether you're a small business , you generally

19:54

startups are not , you know , in need

19:56

of HR services yet , but once you get

19:58

to a point where you're around eight to

20:00

10 employees and contractors

20:02

, you wanna make sure that you're building that foundation

20:04

that's sustainable for you , so

20:07

that you're not behind the eight ball when

20:09

you do start hiring people and trying

20:11

to catch up with what they need and what they want

20:13

, and understanding how you manage yourself

20:15

, manage your business and manage other

20:17

people .

20:18

Yes , I can tell you . When Linda and I first started the

20:21

company , you know we were doing well and things

20:23

are going well , and then we got to the point where we needed

20:25

an employee handbook . We're like , man , do

20:27

we really want this ? We gotta put all this together

20:29

like for real . We gotta , because you have to explain

20:32

that , you have to make sure people understand all your policies

20:34

and procedures . And so it's super important

20:36

. So there are people that when you're running organizations

20:38

that have someone in your corner that says , okay , here are

20:40

the things you need to have , that you require

20:42

to have by law , because there are some things that

20:44

you must do in an organization when

20:47

you begin to have employees , you know it's just my

20:49

wife and I . We kind of can just do it because

20:51

we were the employees . We know we did most of

20:53

the work in our company , but once we started bringing other

20:55

people on , we started realizing everything we

20:57

had to document and it had to be consistent

20:59

. I mean , it was like huh , yeah

21:02

, and the things you may want to do that you could

21:04

do with just me and Linda . We couldn't do anymore . We

21:06

had to be like okay , let's dial this bag

21:08

. This is not a family business anymore . This is a

21:10

business that have other people . That's not even family

21:13

on yeah , yeah absolutely so

21:16

, nick . As you think about a female

21:18

in as an entrepreneur and

21:21

you think about all the challenges that

21:23

that happened with women in leadership . What

21:26

have you helped women in leadership be able to figure

21:28

out how to be effective and not let that get

21:30

in the way , because you know there's still a lot of men

21:32

and key leadership roles and we haven't made it to

21:34

what we need to . When it comes to , you know , women

21:36

in leadership and key roles , I mean they're doing phenomenal

21:39

job , but I don't think we've made it there yet . What

21:41

are you tell women that are starting out there , young , they're trying

21:43

to figure . How do I get to the executive Report room ? How do

21:45

I get to a leadership role ? What advice do you

21:47

share to help women be able to

21:49

be true to themselves and show up in

21:51

a way that allows them to be seen and

21:53

valued in the workplace ?

21:56

So we teach people how to treat us , that's

21:58

for sure . I have males on

22:01

my team and male presenting

22:03

people on my team and it's

22:05

funny that still happens that

22:08

clients , because we have these unconscious

22:10

biases that we're dealing with , will

22:12

tend to want to go to them

22:15

and not come

22:17

to me for things , and they're like no

22:19

.

22:26

This is . I talked to Nikki . She's the one that made the decisions

22:29

. I'm here working for her , so I'll be your

22:31

own person .

22:33

Right , and it's not , you know , and that's not

22:35

a bad thing . I'm like you're empowered to be

22:37

able to make some of the decisions , but yeah , that

22:39

one , that wouldn't be one and they're

22:41

. So we're on the same page about that , but it definitely

22:44

you as a female . We still

22:46

have people in the world . We've been

22:48

socialized to feel a

22:50

certain way about women in

22:52

the workplace and feel a certain way about Men

22:55

in the workplace , and we again have these or

22:57

about tall people . People are taller

22:59

or shorter and the power that

23:02

you have in an Organization so it's still at

23:04

absolutely happens . So , educating

23:06

people about unconscious bias is

23:08

one of the things that we do a lot of , and

23:10

I think if we can touch one organization at a

23:12

time and one person at a time

23:14

, that would help . But specifically , if

23:16

a woman is moving

23:19

around in an organization , teaching

23:21

people how to treat you One of the main

23:23

things and so if you're ready to move into

23:25

an executive role , understanding

23:28

that you're gonna have difficult conversations

23:30

is important . We can't shy

23:32

away from those difficult conversations , and

23:34

being able to structure our Conversations

23:36

so the person that is across from us could

23:39

actually hear us , so understanding

23:41

who they are , so that

23:43

we can get what we need , is so

23:46

important , and so we have to talk , speak the

23:48

language that they can understand

23:50

. Hey , ron , you

23:52

know in this meeting you completely

23:54

overlooked me , or you , when I

23:56

said this . You didn't acknowledge

23:59

it , but when John said it , you acknowledged

24:02

it like it was a great idea and I

24:04

just said it . Can you tell me more about

24:06

that ? How did you experience that ? And

24:08

then asking those tough questions so

24:10

that they can answer why they're doing it . And

24:13

then you start to tell them well , okay

24:15

, this is how this made me feel and

24:17

it's okay to talk about your feelings . We always

24:19

used to say you don't bring feelings to work . Yeah

24:22

, you're a person , you bring this to work . This is

24:24

how it made me feel and now this is what I

24:27

think . How can we best move forward

24:29

with this kind of Dynamic between

24:31

us ? And so having those tough conversations

24:34

, but being intentional about how you say

24:36

and what you say to the person across from you

24:38

so that they can hear you , is

24:40

so important . So timing what

24:42

you say , how you say it and , again

24:45

, being focused and intentional

24:47

about the conversation it can

24:49

help .

24:50

Yes , yes , being consistent to . I mean so

24:53

to say true to you . You know , and

24:55

I think that's so well . That's what everyone , regardless

24:57

of gender , stay true to you . If one person

24:59

can't do it , then be consistent across the board . That's not

25:01

acceptable behavior from people you know

25:04

, so that's important . So , nicky , I'm gonna do

25:06

a . I call it like a lightning round . I'm just gonna

25:08

ask you some very simple , basic questions . I want to see what's

25:10

the first answer that comes to mind for you the

25:12

beach or the mountains ? Beach

25:14

vacation

25:17

Traveling by airplane

25:20

? Or vacation traveling by train airplane

25:23

? Wow , new

25:26

York or Hawaii ?

25:28

Hawaii , because I've never

25:30

been Hawaii and I love .

25:36

Okay , let me see the pizza

25:38

or grill food . Grill

25:41

food , Real food , yes

25:43

.

25:44

I can't be .

25:47

Thanks giving us coming around the corner . Let's see

25:49

pumpkin pie , sweet potato pie sweet

25:52

potato pie .

25:57

I like pumpkin , spice things

25:59

, latte stuff , but give me sweet potato

26:02

pie .

26:07

So if you can do anything in the world

26:09

that you wanted to do and money wasn't

26:11

an issue what would you ?

26:12

do ? If money wasn't an issue

26:15

, I would travel .

26:17

Wow , what's on your bucket list ? Where would you like to

26:19

travel to ?

26:20

So Hawaii being one just for vacation

26:23

. But where I would love to live is

26:25

Portugal . Really , I would love

26:28

to visit Africa and I

26:30

like tropical places , I like the water

26:32

, I like where it's sunny . So Jamaica

26:34

, mexico , places like that , portugal

26:36

, anywhere where I can be near

26:39

the water , and even if

26:41

I'm working . So if money was no object , I'd probably

26:43

not be working , I'd probably

26:45

have to work . I

26:47

work a couple hours a day and

26:50

do all of those other things , but

26:52

maybe even owning , so

26:55

not wanting a florist , I

26:57

would love flowers , I love

27:00

pretty things around me , and so

27:02

that would be one thing . If money was no

27:04

object , that I could do .

27:07

Wow , Amazing . So that's what you learn just listening

27:09

and watching . So the final question

27:12

before we get to you know telling people how to reach you and that's

27:14

where to find you , should they want to connect with you and do services

27:16

with you is how important

27:19

was a role model or mentor

27:21

to you and your journey ?

27:22

Oh my goodness , exponential importance

27:25

, role models and we

27:27

look at like the Oprah Winfrey's of the world

27:29

and all of that and that's all great

27:31

to aspire to that , but what is the percentage

27:33

of people in the world who make it to

27:35

that status ? I don't think that we can't learn

27:38

something from the Oprah's of

27:40

the world , but I like to have people around

27:42

me who I can have access

27:45

to that help me work

27:47

through challenges , not just in life

27:49

, but in business as well , and so having

27:52

mentors like yourself who

27:54

are able to pour into me graciously

27:57

for so long is

27:59

exponentially important . I can't even explain

28:02

how important it is to not make decisions

28:04

in a bubble and have someone that you

28:06

can trust to talk through

28:09

things so that you are confident

28:11

in the decision that you're making . It doesn't mean that your

28:13

decision is going to be right all the time . It

28:16

just means that you're confident that you made it and you're like

28:18

, okay , maybe that was the wrong decision , but I was confident

28:20

when I did it . Yes , but I was wrong . So

28:26

it really has people around you

28:28

, yeah .

28:29

So I will tell you that it's fun watching and

28:31

supporting you , so all of you

28:33

got to watch it and listen to what we're

28:36

talking about . If you're ever in a room with Nikki

28:38

and you're playing no game night , I will

28:40

tell you don't pick Nikki for your space partner

28:42

, because she's going to mess up some stuff for you over there . That's

28:45

when I met Nikki and she was over there and they were not doing well that

28:47

night . That was because

28:49

of my partner .

28:50

That was because of me , that was because

28:52

of my partner was terrible . I don't think you

28:54

can see . That room is dark and

28:57

I'm a great space

28:59

player . People , you want

29:01

me on your team . I'm just

29:03

watching the board , yeah .

29:07

We were at a conference and just having a good time . I

29:09

give her a hard time about that all the time because she'll take that oh partner

29:12

, he can't play , he couldn't see anything , yeah

29:14

yeah , but it was fun . It

29:17

was a bunch of trash talk and good fun competition , and so

29:20

thank you for what you do . So , nikki , I

29:22

mean you shared a lot of great nuggets and people may

29:24

want to reach out and invite you to podcast or

29:26

even be interested in your services and I

29:28

think for small business , sometimes they think they don't have

29:30

enough of a budget . It's not expensive

29:32

to bring someone in for project based stuff when they're

29:34

working with you . How do people reach you and

29:36

what's the best way if someone's interested ? Well , let

29:38

me change the question . First , what are the top

29:40

three reasons why someone should call you

29:42

if they're experiencing ? What ? Would I be experienced to say , hey

29:45

, I need to talk to Nikki ?

29:47

If you're experiencing growth in your organization

29:49

and you're bringing on in full ease and or contractors

29:53

. Even when you're bringing on contractors

29:55

, you want to create a great experience for

29:57

them so that you can lessen your turnover

29:59

. So that would be the first thing when you're growing

30:01

and you're bringing people on to your

30:03

team . When you are bringing

30:06

people on to your team , if you're finding that

30:08

there's a bit of turnover on

30:10

your team generally , that's a pain point for

30:12

many of my clients is we're not doing

30:15

something right . Are we not choosing the right

30:17

people ? Do we not have the right job postings and descriptions

30:19

? Something's not going right here . So

30:21

, as we're bringing people on , we're growing

30:23

, but then we're taking steps back because they're

30:25

leaving . If you're experiencing turnover , then

30:28

you would want to call us , and then so

30:30

growth in the turnover , and

30:32

then the third reason why you would want to call

30:34

us is that you want to build this solid

30:37

foundation so that you , as

30:39

you bring on new people , you

30:42

are creating this experience

30:44

for them that will

30:46

create a lasting effect and they are engaged

30:49

. So if you have people who are just clocking

30:51

in and doing the job and clocking out they're

30:53

not fully engaged then

30:55

you're losing money that way too , and

30:57

so you want to make sure that , as you're bringing people on

30:59

, that you're keeping them , you're retaining them , but

31:02

also engaging them in your organization

31:04

. So how do you ask those meaningful

31:06

questions and evaluate your

31:08

culture so that you understand where people

31:11

sit and how they feel and how they're experiencing

31:13

your organization ? So you want to create this

31:15

employee life cycle that is , that

31:18

people feel engaged in from the onset

31:20

. So those are the three

31:22

. Those are the top three reasons .

31:24

Thank you . Do you offer this service A

31:26

lot of business owners when you started ? You're not really a guru at

31:28

interview . If small businesses , they

31:31

got candidates lined up or they look up a candidate and they

31:33

finally find them . Do you help them do interviews

31:35

, because most of them are not good at interviews . Let's just keep

31:37

it real they're good at what they do , but interviews

31:39

are not one of them and everybody

31:41

thinks that they are .

31:43

And then they're like oh , you know what I'm

31:45

really not . And so , yes , we can help

31:47

with interviewing . We can help with structuring

31:50

your questions so that you can get the

31:52

most information from a person

31:54

before you make the decision . So

31:57

understanding all of the parts of an

31:59

interview , one question and

32:01

how you can extract so much from the candidate

32:03

through that , so we can help structure that . We can also

32:05

help you to evaluate

32:07

your job descriptions so that we're writing

32:10

postings for you and helping

32:12

you walk alongside you to write these postings , so

32:14

you're attracting the people that you want to attract

32:16

into your business . And then we can also

32:19

help with interviews as well , and that can be on

32:21

an hourly basis or project

32:23

basis , depending on how much you have going

32:25

on at that time .

32:26

Yes , yes , and it'll help keep you out of

32:28

trouble , because there's some things you really can't ask

32:30

in the interviews . So you want to make sure

32:32

that you talk into an expert to keep you out of legal trouble

32:35

. So , there's absolutely cannot

32:37

ask .

32:44

Look like you're pregnant .

32:49

Yes , yeah , and it's simple . Are you married ? None

32:51

of your business . They're not talking about the matter

32:53

of status exactly Technic

33:00

classes .

33:01

So there are things that laws protect us

33:03

. So we have these protected glasses as prescribed

33:05

by title seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

33:08

, but they're just things that just aren't good business practice

33:10

to ask those

33:12

two . It might not be against the law , but it doesn't have

33:14

to rise to the letter of the law To

33:17

be uncomfortable or , you know

33:19

, to create this experience that people won't

33:22

like . So we want to make sure that we're asking , you

33:25

know , good questions and work related

33:27

is about the job .

33:28

Keep it about the job . Reach

33:32

you , someone wants to reach you . Order the best ways for people

33:34

to make contact with you and if

33:36

they want to request an appointment or just more information

33:38

, how do they reach you ?

33:40

So our website is HRU

33:42

group calm . You can reach us

33:44

there , hru group calm . You

33:47

can email me directly , nikki

33:49

in as a Nancy I Kki

33:51

at HRU group calm . And

33:54

then we're on all social media platforms

33:56

not a law , not on Twitter . What is

33:58

it called now X or whatever it is LinkedIn

34:03

, instagram and Facebook at

34:05

HR unequivocally .

34:07

Yes , yes , thank you , Thank you . So

34:10

if you have any questions and you want to reach out to Nikki

34:12

I mean phenomenal , I mean she supports programs

34:14

that we do I mean doing great work and just

34:16

down the earth , you know , keeps it real and have fun

34:18

, you know , but also does a phenomenal

34:20

job . So don't let the smile pool you . She's gonna

34:22

hold you accountable , you know .

34:24

she's gonna say yeah , you can't do that .

34:25

She's gonna still be smiling at you . Just

34:29

don't you keep you out of trouble and make sure you're going

34:31

in the right direction . But thank you so much for

34:33

coming on and and being a part of the podcast

34:35

is always fun when people just relax

34:37

and have conversations about how to

34:40

help other people that are listening to watching what we do . I

34:42

think we do have a responsibility to give back to our

34:44

community and this is our way of giving back to let

34:46

people know , without getting up , they got a right

34:48

of proposal or they got to get an invoice from either

34:50

one of us . They get to hear some things and hopefully

34:52

enough to make them want to do more , find

34:54

a way to contact one of us , to ask other

34:56

questions , to help them be successful . For those

34:58

you know watching , we're gonna release this . We release

35:00

a new podcast every single Monday and

35:03

our job is to really unpack and talk about things

35:05

that's happening in real time that we talk about

35:07

behind the curtain in the green room . But this

35:09

is the green room , it's live , real-time

35:11

green room conversations . Thank

35:13

y'all for watching , thank you for listening , thank you for

35:15

supporting us . We wouldn't be the business that

35:17

we are if it wasn't for the community that supported

35:19

us . So thank you for the partnerships . For both

35:21

of our companies , partnerships do matter , relationships

35:24

do matter . We do promise you will always

35:26

do good work and we'll be a good partner , and

35:28

we ask that everyone that's watching , no , feel

35:30

free to reach out to us and until next time

35:32

, you know for us , nikki and I are gonna sign off

35:34

with you , but we appreciate you joining us today

35:36

on turn on unpack

35:38

with Ron Harvey , global core strategies

35:40

and consulting . We're on all the social media

35:42

platforms as well . Feel free to reach out to

35:45

us and until next time . Y'all have a wonderful

35:47

day and we will catch up with you later

35:49

.

35:50

Well , we hope you enjoy this edition

35:52

of unpack podcast with

35:54

leadership consultant Ron Harvey

35:56

. Remember to join us every Monday

35:59

as Ron unpack sound advice Providing

36:01

real answers for real leadership

36:04

challenges . Until next time , remember

36:06

to add value and make a difference

36:09

where you are or the people you

36:11

serve , because people always

36:13

matter .